"We couldn't tackle,' isn't good enough in Rams rout in Week 2 loss to Cardinals

LA Rams Head Coach Sean McVay is never at a loss for words. But in his post-game press conference after a drubbing at the hands of the typically demure Arizona Cardinals, the words seemed to hurt long before they formed in Coach McVay's mouth. He was both frustrated and disappointed. And he had a right to be. The real question is:

Was he simply narrating what we already knew and observed? Or was he already positioning his mindset to diagnose what went wrong to engineer a process to pave a way to getting it right?

Perhaps the telling moment of the press conference was the opening statement. When Mcvay was asked about Cardinals QB Kyler Murray's ability to gash the defense for 59 rushing yards in just five caries and the defense's inability to corral him, he said what we all knew to be the answer:

"We just couldn()t tackle. I mean, there were opportunities. When you look at some of the plays, we had three guys around him. He ended up escaping and hits an off-schedule touchdown. He does the same thing on a third down by our sideline. So, we just weren()t able to get to him. "

- Coach McVay

That's how McVay opened the presser, and it went downhill from there:

The surprising aspect of the Rams' total defeat in Week 2 is how unprepared the team appeared. This game was not against a team that seldom appeared on the schedule. This was a game against one of the most familiar foes the team will face this season. And yet, the team had no answers, energy, or fight.

The game was out of hand almost instantly. Admittedly, I remained patient throughout the first quarter, seeking some signs of effective counterpunching. But the Rams rope-a-dope was not a strategic effort to allow their opponent to tire itself out with wild haymakers. The haymakers continued to land, sapping more strength from the Rams then the cost of the blow itself.

It was a beatdown, a drubbing that never relented. In the end, the team ended at the bottom of the NFL in almost every category. And the Rams were sent there, not by the San Francisco 49ers, but by the lowliest of projected opponents: the Arizona Cardinals.